New probe casts light on moments before helicopter crash that claimed two lives in Westmeath
The fatal helicopter crash that claimed the lives of two men last month appears to have occurred during a training manoeuvre
The fatal helicopter crash that claimed the lives of two men last month appears to have occurred during a training manoeuvre aimed at dealing with engine failure in flight.
That is according to a preliminary report by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) into the circumstances around the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of married father of two, Niall Crosby (46) and Czech national, Antonin Kabelka (48) near Killucan, Co Westmeath on Tuesday July 30th.
The preliminary 11-page report doesn’t contain any analysis of conclusions and a final report will be published in due course as the investigation led by Investigator in Charge, Paul Farrell continues.
READ MORE: Two people killed as emergency services rush to scene of helicopter crash
However, the preliminary report does state that the “accident appears to have occurred during a sixth autorotation manoeuvre” during the training flight.
The report states that ‘autorotation’ is part of flight training for trainee pilots and is a technique in how to respond to engine failure. The report explains that an autorotative descent is a power-off manoeuvre in which the engine is no longer supplying power to the main rotor.
Married father of three, Mr Kabelka was a helicopter instructor and Mr Crosby was the student helicopter pilot who had completed flying time of two hours and 53 minutes on the Jet Ranger model helicopter before the final flight on the afternoon of July 30th. A founder of AG Grid, a software company based in London, Mr Crosby from Glenageary, south Dublin and originally from Straffan, Co Kildare, purchased the Canadian made helicopter and wished to be trained in piloting the Bell Textron Jet Ranger X 505.
Mr Crosby had commenced his helicopter training on July 1st 2022 and completed his training course on June 17th 2024. The report records that up to June 17th 2024, Mr Crosby had completed just over 100 hours of flying time and all of these hours were on a Robinson 44 helicopter.
The AAIU investigation spoke to a number of witnesses and records that no witnesses had actually observed the final moments of the helicopter’s flight where the helicopter ended up on the roof of a piggery outside the village of Killucan. The report states that witnesses variously described seeing the helicopter descending rapidly as if to land before climbing away again.
The report stated that "several described hearing the helicopter’s engine going quiet and then becoming loud again". The report states that the descending and climbing manoeuvres are consistent with autorotation training, while the variation in engine sound is consistent with the helicopter operation alternating between the ‘Idle’ and ‘Fly’ modes when initiating and completing autorotations.
Mr Kabelka arrived on July 28th last into Ireland to conduct the training programme for the Jet Ranger which was due to commence the following day for Mr Crosby and three other pilots. Mr Crosby completed two training flights with Mr Kabelka on the helicopter on July 29th.
On the morning of July 30th Mr Crosby completed another training flight for around 40 minutes with Mr Kabelka and ahead of the fatal training flight another student witnessed Mr Kabelka brief Mr Crosby on the part of the training syllabus relating to autorotation.
The two departed from Weston Airport at 1.58pm and the report records that at approximately 2:25pm, while operating in the vicinity of Killucan, Co. Westmeath “and during what appears to have been a sixth practice autorotation, the helicopter impacted with the surface of an agricultural field”.
It added: “It then travelled forwards at a height sufficient to clear a boundary fence and impacted with a gable wall of an agricultural building. The report states that “the helicopter came to rest, in a nose-down orientation, in the wall and the roof of the building. Both occupants were fatally injured”.
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